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4 November 2018

The Cairns Crisis

The thing about me, is that I am probably (definitely) one of the most impulsive people you will ever meet.

For me, nothing is too much of a risk not to do. Quit your job? Fine. Live on £5 for 2 weeks? Absolutely. Planning has never been my strong point, I'll put my mind to something, and I do it. Often without much thought and always with the view "everything will work out in the end."

It's a trait which in many ways, has helped me get to where I am. I wanted to start a blog, so I did it. I wanted to make Youtube videos, so I created them. I wanted to come over to Australia, and I thought, why not?

But it's also a trait which has left me in a lot of, well, somewhat (very) sticky situations.

Because I wanted to leave my job in Sydney, it meant I was left with a month in one of the most expensive cities in the world, and almost no income. Because I went freelance without really researching it the way I should (and now have), it meant I was left with weeks without any money.

And it meant that in August, when I booked a flight to Cairns, I thought I would land with enough money to travel down the East Coast, and in reality, that is not currently possible.

It's due to a mixture of reasons. Two of the guys I was originally supposed to be travelling with seemed a bit odd, so myself and my new-found-friend Gina had to make a decision on whether we actually wanted to share a car with them for 6 weeks.

And then, there's the issue of a company I was writing for not paying me the money I'm owed within the invoice timeframe. Which meant when I arrived in Cairns, I had half of the money I was expecting to have by the second week, in order to travel.

So, whilst I am spending part of my time floating around the pool reading books, I'm also spending part of my time handing out CVs to every shop and every restaurant I can find.

The good news, is that I am in Australia, in one of my new favourite places, sat right on the barrier reef, and have made some incredible new friends. I'm working for accommodation so I don't pay anything to live here, and it is currently 30 degrees.

Admittedly, I do spend ALL of my time sweating.

The not-so-good news, is that I have put myself in a very stupid situation and probably (definitely) need to reevaluate my life a little bit.

This is absolutely not a woe is me story. This is just sharing the realities of my travel life at the moment. For anyone who has travelled for a prolonged period of time, I'm sure you'll know people who this has happened to, or you'll be in the situation yourself.

So whilst things aren't quite rosy, I do know exactly what my plan is, and I am also sharing a room with one person who has as little to their name as me, and another who owes her parents nearly £10,000 after borrowing the money from them. To fill you in a little more on life in Cairns, you should all know that I am currently sporting a black eye. An added feature which is making finding a job that little bit harder.

This occurred when on a night out with a friend I'd met in my Sydney hostel - who turned up outside reception at my current hostel, without any clue I was working here.

To cut a long story short, I rolled my ankle, didn't put my arms out to protect myself, and smacked my face on the pavement.

Classic me.

Except despite brushing off the pain and pretending I was "absolutely fine" I woke up feeling pretty awful... and not because of the alcohol.

After an unexpectedly long doctors visit, I was told I had a concussion and a fractured cheekbone. So whilst my eye is black, the left side of my face is a beautiful greenish colour at the moment. Which, admittedly, saved money for halloween.

Part of the reason I haven't written about the lows of living in Australia, is that to be honest, I feel entirely selfish. It's so hard to complain about life out here, when I know I have friends working around the clock in London.

But the truth is, friends, travelling, and being away from home, is hard. It might not be hard in the way that you have a high-flying career job or a credit card bill of £25,000, but it really can be hard.

You're completely alone, with only yourself to depend on. If you get yourself in any financial difficulty, it's embarrassing to make that phone call to your parents - I actually know two people who slept in their car as they didn't want to accept any help.

Each day is different, which is so so exciting, but it's also a matter of where you'll go next. Will your shitty, $2000 car even start, and if it doesn't - then what? And it's a case of realising that no matter how close Facetiming your family makes you feel, you're actually on the other side of the world.

I absolutely love travelling. I wouldn't swap this life, no matter the highs and lows, for the world. I love meeting new people and visiting new places, but my new mantra on this blog is to not pretend it's always so easy.

For some reason, I got into my head that people only wanted to hear about the beauty of travelling. And I'm sure some do. But there's also the nitty-gritty. The cockroaches and the spiders and the uncertainty and financial issues and the boys you promise not to get attached to but then, obvs, make you cry.

I'm having a life evaluation and am coming up with the best plan for me, to make me financially stable and more capable and excited to do everything thrown at me.

But I will keep writing.

I will fill you in on what has happened and what's to come and make sure I don't just hide behind smiling Instagram posts.